


Fortifier

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Boss/Employee Relationship, Chocolate Box Exchange 2018, M/M, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 12:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13658889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: Saito offers Cobb a job, a place to stay, and a considerable salary. He might have ulterior motives but he's trying to keep those quiet.





	Fortifier

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etnoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/gifts).



Saito initially chose Dominick Cobb to help him wall up his mind’s defenses because his intel told him Cobb was desperate for safety and money, barely keeping himself out of danger’s way and off the streets. Quite a step down for a man like that. With anyone else it would have made Saito skeptical about his talents but Cobb had quite the history, and all his references said he was one of the best in the field. And at this point he would probably work for dirt cheap, as long as Saito offered him a safe place to stay where, for at least a little while, his enemies couldn’t find him.

Cobb, in person, did not act desperate or poor. He wore a suit only one season out of fashion and spoke with the flat tone of a professional. Saito almost doubted his intel. He low-balled his offer to test the waters, and Cobb accepted it without question.

So, then. Desperate.

He felt a little smug, although he didn’t say anything about Cobb’s recently decreased circumstances. That would have been rude. Yes, he felt like he was better than Cobb. Then he let Cobb walk into his dreams, and everything changed.

He didn’t recognize Cobb at first. Cobb had to introduce himself.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the man you hired to build a fortress,” Cobb said, implacably confident. “You remember me, don’t you?”

There was a glint in his eye. Later, in real life, Saito would try to find that glint again. It would not be there. Cobb in the real world was a man crushed by circumstance and tragedy. Cobb in the dream world was the master of the universe.

“Yes,” Saito said. “Yes, I remember you.”

His memories in the dream were not accurate. It was a dream of Edo era Japan, and he was a powerful samurai. This man, this foreigner, he had hired to help him build and defend a fortress. It did not matter why he had thought the man right for the job.

There was a fortress already. Cobb gazed at it. Much of it was made of wood, much of it painted red. It had rows and rows of high windows and terraces. Guards patrolled the borders, swords by their sides.

“That’s good,” Cobb said. “Not good enough.” He took Saito’s hand and led him closer. “Let’s see what we can do.”

They worked it out over a period of six nights. First they solidified the fortress. They relocated it onto the top of a mountain with sheer stone sides. They hid the safe with Saito’s secrets deep in a maze of insignificant memories and anecdotes, some true and some false. Cobb showed Saito how to set up traps and diversions, every way to stop an invader from getting through. Finally, they together trained the men to attack anyone who was not Cobb or Saito or an extra on sight.

Sometimes Saito knew he was dreaming. Sometimes he didn’t. Even in the moments when Cobb raised a hand and levitated entire walls he sometimes believed it was real and Cobb was simply a powerful magician come to help him protect his fortress. A friend and a strong ally.

What he knew always was that Cobb was important. He knew that when he woke up, too, and was more convinced with each passing day. And so, when Cobb had finished helping Saito with his fortress, Saito told him to stay.

“You have another job for me?” Cobb said, a spark of curiosity in his usually tired real-life eyes.

“I could use a dream master permanently on my staff.”

“That’s not my job title.”

“Men like you don’t have job titles. And if you leave, you can’t even guarantee you’ll find another job.” It was the first time he’d hinted at Cobb’s insolvency, and he felt a fleck of guilt when Cobb winced. “I can offer you a suite in the hotel I own here, if you promise to stay on call and available.”

“I’m not used to staying put in one place.”

“Of course, if you inform me ahead of time you can travel anywhere you wish. Consider that vacation time.” Saito didn’t think Cobb had the money to travel very far anyhow. “The suite would come with free meals, and in addition I would offer you a regular salary, and a commission price when I had actual jobs to offer you.”

Cobb narrowed his eyes. “No one offers something this good without another motive.”

“Yes, but I like you, and I would like to work again with you. Consider it a rich man’s whim.”

“I don’t like being a whim.”

“Kobold is still looking for you,” Saito noted. “You would do well to lay low for at least a while. Well, I’ll give you until tomorrow to think about my offer.”

Cobb took it.

* * *

 

Saito visited Cobb’s hotel regularly.

The first three times, Cobb didn’t question it. The fourth time he asked, “Is there a particular reason you wanted to meet with me?”

Saito had taken him out for lunch at a nearby Panera. The chain was not his favorite but apparently they were popular in America and he wanted Cobb to feel at home. He had paid for Cobb’s sandwich and bowl of soup, and had begun a discussion of an upcoming art show before this interruption.

“Does an employer need a reason to meet with his employee?” he asked. “I need to keep an eye on how you are adjusting.”

“You haven’t given me any tasks yet. It’s been two weeks.”

“If I needed to perform an extraction every two weeks, I would consider that state of affairs to be… concerning.”

Cobb frowned. “Extraction? You hired me for…”

“General dream work. Do you object to extractions, Mr. Cobb? Do they go against your moral principles? Will we have to renegotiate your contract?”

“No.” Cobb steepled his fingers. “I can reinforce your employees’ minds like yours, if you want. I keep busy.”

The thought of Cobb threading his way through someone else’s dreams, building up their defenses as calmly and intimately as he had Saito’s, was distasteful. Saito said, “I do not expect the company to be under immediate threat of invasion.”

“You were worried enough to hire me.”

“I like to have contingency plans.”

“You don’t need to check on contingency plans twice a week. Are you afraid I’ll run?” Cobb asked. “I told you I’d stay here. What do you think I’m going to do, sell your secrets to the highest bidder?”

He hadn’t even considered that. The man in his dreams had been perfectly trustworthy, and he couldn’t think of the real Mr. Cobb as less so. “I am not concerned about your loyalties, Mr. Cobb.”

“So? Why the visits?”

“Do you not like Panera?”

Cobb shrugged. “They’re okay.”

“I like to eat with a friend,” Saito said. “In my shoes that is more difficult than you would think.” He smiled slightly. “I am surrounded by old men and underlings. They do not make good company.”

“And I’m not your underling?”

“Do you consider yourself one?”

Cobb said, “It doesn’t matter what I think, does it?”

“You are good company,” Saito repeated. “But if you would prefer me not to eat with you, I will respect your wishes. Putting up with me is not in your job description.” No matter how nonexistent said job description might be.

“I don’t mind,” Cobb said. “I suppose I could use the company too.”

That, from Saito’s intel, was an understatement. Cobb had many associates but he’d been out of touch with most of them for quite a while now. His wife was dead. She had been his entire family—he had no children. He’d recently fought with Arthur, his closest associate, and now was forced to work alone. A man like that could use company. He and Saito were much alike.

So Saito dropped in once or twice a week. Sometimes they got lunch, sometimes dinner. Cobb always let Saito pick the place. Once, Saito came by to swim in the hotel’s pool after persuading Cobb to join him. Cobb was not quite as muscled as Saito had imagined under that suit, but he was still a sight. Saito had to refrain from touching him.

That was something he’d been doing more and more lately, touching Cobb. Just brushes of hands, or pats on the back. Cobb rarely returned the touches, but they didn’t seem to make him uncomfortable at least. Saito would have to keep himself under control to make sure it stayed that way. He was determined not to let Cobb know that what at first had been professional interest tinged with intrigue was slowly turning into attraction of the more personal kind. Sure, Cobb was a lonely man. That didn’t mean he wanted his current patron to suck his dick. Saito couldn’t pressure him to be more than friends. Even friendship was inappropriate, really, but it was too late for that.

A month in, he assigned Cobb the first extraction job. Nerve-wracking, to wait for Cobb’s report to come in, but it went off without a hitch. They celebrated with dinner at the best steakhouse in town.

“So? Worth the investment?” Cobb asked as he cut into his steak.

_Your eyes are worth the investment_ , Saito didn’t say. But the work really was good. “I have to admit, you have impressed me again, Mr. Cobb.”

Cobb smiled smugly and leaned over the table. “You forgot I was more than a pretty face.”

Saito blinked, then laughed. It seemed like a joke. Probably it was supposed to be a joke. After the appropriate amount of laughter, he said, “I will try not to underestimate you.”

“I can be your company’s greatest asset, if you let me.”

“Oh, but I try to keep lawbreaking to a minimum.”

Cobb leaned back, still grinning. He slowly put a piece of steak in his mouth and sucked it off the fork.

Saito said, “I’ll try to find more for you to do.”

“You ought to let me refurbish the security on your fortress again, for one thing. Just a checkup.” Cobb turned businesslike, but there was the glint in his eye. “If you come back to the hotel, I could get it done tonight, no need for the commission price.”

Saito would have loved to have Cobb in his dreams again. But sharing a bed with him seemed like a path to temptation. “I think I will wait a little longer, doctor.”

Cobb shook his head. “All right. But find me work.”

“Yes, sir.” Saito grinned mockingly.

* * *

 

_“Saito,” says the Cobb in Saito’s dreams, the Cobb who is not the real Cobb. “I need to show you something.”_

_“What is it?”_

_Saito’s robes, the robes of an Edo samurai, unwrap themselves from his body. They levitate briefly before falling to the floor._

_“I have power over this place,” Cobb whispers. “Power over you, too, Saito.”_

_Saito shivers and knows it is true._

* * *

 

When he eventually asked Cobb to a company function he did it two weeks ahead of time and as diplomatically and platonically as possible.

“So I’d be your plus-one for the evening?” Cobb asked, eyebrows raised. “What about your girlfriend, Saito?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Saito said.

Cobb frowned. “Really? My…” He trailed off.

“Your research told you I had a significant other. Don’t be ashamed—it would be more embarrassing if you didn’t look into me before accepting a job,” Saito said. “She and I have not been together for a few months.” Since he met Cobb, to be exact. And even before then it had only been casual.

Cobb said, “You won’t be able to tell anyone at the function my job. Unless you’re trying to network a client for me?”

“I do not wish to network you with anyone,” Saito said with annoyance. “I believe the evening will be boring and I wish to have someone along who will make it more bearable.”

“I make your life more bearable?”

Saito rolled his eyes. “There will be champagne.”

“I guess I’m going.”

Saito took him out shopping—his plus-one couldn’t be dressed badly, for one thing, and for another he’d been meaning to do this for quite a while. Cobb’s clothes weren’t bad but they were old and they could always be more tailored. He brought Cobb to his personal tailor and sat in another room while they took measurements. Cobb told him he didn’t mind if Saito saw him in his underwear, but Saito knew it was a Bad Idea.

When asked for choice of fabric, Cobb turned to Saito. “What’s your preference?”

“The suit is for you.”

Cobb rolled his eyes. “So I’m paying for it?”

“Of course not. I would never have you acquire expenses on my account.”

“I have the money to pay for it. The last extraction paid well.” As if Saito didn’t know that—he’d been the one paying.

“You’re only buying it because of me. I will pay.”

“Then you’ll choose the color.”

Saito pursed his lips. Turning to the swatches of fabric, he picked out a light blue for the shirt and a quiet black for the suit itself. Cobb wasn’t meant for vibrant colors but a _little_ color would do him good. He looked to Cobb for approval, and Cobb smirked at him. What that meant he wasn’t sure, but at least it didn’t seem to be disagreement.

As they left the store Cobb asked him, “Are you looking forward to seeing how I look?”

“I am sure however it comes out, it will suit you well. I look at the man, not at the clothing. But it is good that you will be dressed well for company.”

Cobb hmmed. “Will you match your clothes to mine?”

He’d been planning on it. “I usually wear blacks and blues myself,” he said smoothly.

“And are you planning on dancing with me?”

Saito shrugged. “I don’t believe there will be dancing.”

He waited for Cobb to take it a step further, to ask whether it was officially a date or whether Saito meant this to be a romantic evening. Saito had a speech planned in that case. Two, actually. One for denial and one for confirmation. He wasn’t sure which one he would use but he had them both ready in case.

Cobb didn’t ask. He only smiled and said, “That’s too bad.”

The suit looked excellent on him when the night arrived. Saito made a note—a physical note in his black book of expenses—to give the tailor a bonus. It showed just enough of Cobb’s curves without looking trashy, and the colors were as Saito had pictured, exquisite. Cobb had also chosen a nice tie, black and textured. Saito wanted to grab it and pull Cobb into a kiss. He did not. He brought Cobb to his limousine and they drove off to the company function.

Or: they began to drive off.

The car barraged into theirs when they were barely down the street.

* * *

 

_Cobb pulls Saito into the bed. He is naked, and he has all the muscle that swimming together had already proved the real Cobb does not. He kisses Saito on the lips, and Saito doesn’t close his eyes, just relaxes into the moment. He puts his arms around Cobb and holds him like he’s drowning. But there is no danger. Only the urgency of lust and need. He moans into Cobb’s mouth and Cobb pulls away, then shoves him down onto the mattress._

_It’s an Edo era room, but the mattress is modern and springy._

_Cobb straddles his hips. Saito is naked too, and his dick is hard and heavy. Cobb murmurs, “What do you want?”_

_“You,” Saito says. “I want you.”_

“I want you too.”

The voice is Cobb’s, but it’s not the dream Cobb.

_Saito looks up. There is a man in the doorway. He is Cobb, fully dressed in a suit. Not the suit Saito bought him—one of the old ones. His eyes have that glint in them, the glint of assurance._

_“Dominick?” Saito says. It is only because it is a dream that he can call Cobb by his first name._

_Cobb comes over to the bed. The other Cobb steps aside dutifully at his glare._ “I want you to wake up, Saito.”

“Oh,” Saito says. “I didn’t know I was dreaming.”

* * *

 

He woke up. He was in the hospital, strapped down to a bed with a couple tubes in his arm and another couple in his nose. One of those tubes attached him to Cobb, seated in a chair, who blinked his eyes open slowly as Saito watched him.

The car crash.

“You weren’t hurt?” Saito asked. Cobb didn’t look hurt, but Saito was no doctor.

“I got a concussion. You got it worse.” Cobb’s voice rasped. He cleared his throat. “You were in a coma for four days before I convinced them to let me try to wake you.”

He removed the tube connecting them and put it away in a suitcase he had with him. Saito felt oddly forlorn at the sight. He said, “I thank you. It appears I owe you my life.”

“I am your employee,” Cobb said quietly.

_You are my savior_ , Saito didn’t say. Well, it wasn’t like they didn’t both know that.

Cobb said, “The doctors will want to talk to you now. You know where to find me.”

Saito did. The hotel, as always. Only it took a while before he could get up the courage to go. He should never had indulged himself with wicked dreams about Cobb. Not that he could control his dreams perfectly, but he could have tried harder. Now Cobb knew everything. He’d saved Saito’s life and Saito had repaid him with lewd caricature.

He went to Cobb anyhow. He would apologize, and thank Cobb again for saving his life. Maybe give him the same payment as he would for a large commission. See if he could get things back to normal, back to where they had been before. He might even, after a few months to let it rust, try to ask Cobb out again. See how it went. See if Cobb could forget his embarrassment.

In the lobby, he told them to call Cobb and tell him he was coming. Better to give him some warning this time. They sent him up.

The door was propped open when he got there but he still knocked. Cobb’s voice called him in. He walked in and froze.

Cobb was sitting on the parlor’s leather backed armchair. He had his legs crossed, and he was wearing nothing but a pair of silk boxers and the tie he’d been wearing for the function. Saito gaped at him.

“Am I still dreaming?” he asked, because dream or real, Cobb would be the one to know.

“Like what you see?” Cobb asked.

Saito slowly nodded. He pulled the doorstop out and closed the door. “Am I dreaming?” he repeated. Just to be sure.

“No,” Cobb said. “No.” He walked over to Saito, who was still too frozen to come to him. “This is real.”

And when he kissed Saito, it was nothing like the dream. His cheeks were rougher (real men had stubble sometimes) and his technique was a bit different, and his lips and tongue were wetter, more slippery. It was more clumsy, too—they bumped noses a few times and Saito, still bewildered, almost bit Cobb’s tongue. But it was good. And the sex, when they finally made it to the suite’s bedroom, was good too.

 “I meant to move more slowly,” Saito said afterwards, lying with an arm around Cobb, boneless in the best way.

“I know. It was flattering. A little confusing at first, but flattering. But if you hired me just for the sex, you have bad judgment. I turned out to be a good extractor, didn’t I?”

Saito said, “I always knew you were the best.”

“You’re actually very cheesy.”

“I can’t help it. When I’m with the man of my dreams…”

“This is reality,” Cobb said quietly. He seemed to have mellowed pretty fast. “What we’re doing now is reality.”

Saito nodded.

“I needed to have you in reality,” Cobb said, “because I almost lost you. Then I could only ever have seen you in dreams. Reality is better.”

“You saw me in your dreams?”

Cobb smiled a secret smile. He kissed Saito on the side of his head. “I never talk about dreams that don’t belong to my client.”

“You’ve seen my dreams.”

“Your head is lovely. I’ve always liked your fortress,” Cobb said. A moment of silence. “Maybe I’ll show you mine someday. But they aren’t very nice.”

Saito supposed that was fair. Things were moving faster than he’d intended already. Still, “I’d like that.”

And he liked that Cobb talked about what they might do together in the future. That implied Cobb would stay, and Saito very much wanted him to stay.

**Author's Note:**

> To Etnoe: Hey, I liked your Inception prompts so I picked one up! Namely the one with Saito being Cobb's sort-of-sugar-daddy....and in this fic, Cobb sort of needs one. Hope you liked it!


End file.
